Visakhapatnam: The YSRC central leadership has decided to openly extend support to Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) candidate A. Aja Sharma of CPM in the ongoing north coastal Andhra Pradesh graduates’ MLC elections. The YSRC has not fielded a candidate of its own, and had not supported anyone until Thursday morning. It was earlier presumed that the YSRC would indirectly support an independent candidate. But YSRC chief Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy put all the speculations to rest late on Thursday, by calling on the party cadre to cast their votes in favour of Mr Aja Sharma.
This move from the main Opposition party of the state is expected to upset the applecart for the BJP-TD alliance, as Mr Sharma’s chief competitor is the BJP-TD candidate Mr Madhav. Accor-ding to observers, both sides are ensuring that no stone is left unturned, to ensure victory. The BJP-TD alliance has roped in ministers Kamineni Srinivas and P. Manikyala Rao, local TD-BJP ministers, as well as MPs and MLAs from nor-th coastal Andhra Prad-esh, to gather votes from all sections. Health minister Kamineni Srinivas has spent the last two days in Visakhapatnam, discussing poll strategies with TD-BJP leaders and conducting discussions with several employee and trade unions.
Meanwhile, Congress MLC candidate Yedla Adiraju and independent candidate V. Venkataramanamurthy have also be-en rigorously touring the three districts and putting in their best efforts to secure the seat. YSRC Vizag district pre-sident Gudivada Amarn-ath said they would adhere to the instructions issued by their chief. “I request all the party leaders and activists to fully support Mr Aja Sharma, as per the directions of the party central committee,” he said.
As March 9, the election date, draws closer, all the parties and candidates have scaled up their campaigning efforts to woo graduate voters in the three districts. As per the MLC electorate, Vizag district has a total of 90,074 registered graduate voters, Vizianagaram has 34,570 voters and Srikakulam has 31,313 voters; which amounts to a total of 1.55 lakh votes.
Infographics:
- About 1.55 lakh voters will exercise their right to choose the MLC on March 9
- A total of 30 candidates are contesting the seat, some are backed by political parties and others are independent.
